HeadCount and FireChat Go Off-The-Grid

HeadCount made another big move in the technology space this week by partnering with FireChat, an app that enables you to converse with others via smart phones – even when cell service or wifi is down.

Our volunteers and the entire festival community has been in need of such a technology, as we know cell and wifi service can be spotty at best during live music events.

Check out the HeadCount chat room at firechat.at/headcount now. The app is free and there are many chat rooms to choose from related to music or politics. Plus you can create your own chat rooms any time. Our volunteers who are going on Jam Cruise in January plan to use the app to communicate with each other when on the boat or foreign soil.

HeadCount also is a partner of iCitizen, the leading civic participation app. And we developed our own mobile-friendly technology called #SoundOff for tweeting at Congress.

FireChat is built on a technology from its parent company, Open Garden, which created a way for smart phone users to communicate with each other using Bluetooth technology. If enough people download the app, it creates a “Mesh” network where everyone is connected, even if they are off the grid, so to speak.

This will obviously change the festival experience in a big way. But it also has wide appeal to activists. In Hong Kong, when many feared the government would shut down the Internet during pro-democracy protests, over 500,000 protesters downloaded FireChat in order to communicate. FireChat was also used by many protesters in Ferguson.

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HeadCount provides voter registration assistance on a strictly nonpartisan basis to any U.S. citizen age 18 or over without regard to political affiliation, race, religion, or age. HeadCount does not endorse, support or coordinate with any political party or candidates for elected office, or take positions on any ballot initiatives.